Modern

The great thing about DIY desks is that you rarely if ever have to crack open your tool box. A desk, as its essential core, is nothing more than a slap of something, that serves a tabletop, supported by, well, anything. Let’s deconstruct that grand idea into a clear mathematical equation:

X + Y = Desk

X being the element that serves as the tabletop.

Y being the proverbial “legs.”

It’s that simple. Nothing more, nothing less. The second you dust of your tools, is the very second you, God only knows, have decided to complicate matters. Keep It Simple.

If, you really want to keep it simple then, by all means, forget the other desks on this list and do the first one.

1. The Cardboard Desk

Just papier-mâché this desk and hope it doesn’t rain or gets too humid.

Materials

Glue gun.

Cardboard boxes.

Tips/Instructions

If you really want to do it cheaply, then go to your nearest Walmart and ask when they stock up their shelves… That afternoon is a cardboard box free-for-all.

2. The Simple Modern Desk

This simple desk is anything but simple. The end product is one of the cutest and nicest images we managed to snatch for this article, but the road to that particular Utopia is riffed with power tools, pitfalls and, perhaps, the occasional jaunt to the Emergency Room. Still, if you’re up for it then by God go and hammer away!

Materials

Sadly, you are going to need tools (drill, buzzsaw, sander).

Stain

Plywood

Wood glue.

Various brackets (in sizes and degrees)

Tips/Instructions

Try to get everything precut at your local hardware store.

3. Giant Desk

If Godzilla needed a workspace then he surely has found himself in the following predicament: watching a this very same YouTube video and cursing out loud because Home Depot and IKEA don’t deliver to Monster Island.

Materials

Ikea Finnard for legs.

Ikea Alex for storage.

2x4s

Simple Pine boards (their length depends on your space).

Box of screws

Drills

Tips/Instructions

It’s a simple straightforward job. No funny business.

Either sand the boards or treat them so they aren’t so rough to the touch.

4. The Double Desk IKEA Hack

This twelve-foot long desk is perfect for sharing your workplace. If, it turns out – like the presenter – that your office mate is also your lover than this design elevates interoffice relationship into a new level. Elbows meeting, knees touching, perfumes wafting in the air… this IKEA hack is one romantic puppy.

Materials

Three book cases.

Wood conditioner.

Wood stain.

Water-Based Polyurethane for a satin finish.

Three 2x8x12 untreated pine boards.

One zany drink more Gyn inspirational poster (optional).

Metal connector bars.

Tips/Instructions

Get bookcase that meets your requirements once you sit down. In other words, that once you stack on the pine boards you can comfortably fit into place.

5. Clean Modern Wood Design

A dream setup for most is an ergonomic desk with a minimalistic view to life. Nothing too fancy. Simple, to the point and carrying only the essentials. Nothing to distract the mind or spirit while working.

Materials

Tabletop: IKEA Karlby Walnut 74”.

Desk Legs: AnthroDesk Legs from Amazon.

Tips/Instructions

This is a straight forward affair. Place legs, standing up on floor, position tabletop on legs. DONE!

In case you can’t find, or simply want a smaller tabletop, then swing on down to your local hardware store.

Rustic

The trick to a rustic desk is to really highlight and underscore those natural motifs that Mother Nature endowed this section’s super-star: WOOD! Each desk, in essence, should look like it’s been plucked straight out of a Western film. They should, if possible, come with their very own soundtrack and Texan twang.

1. Quaint and Charming Desk

The IT of this particular video is that fact that the YouTuber acknowledges a hidden truth about some DIYs… we are mere mortals! Some of us couldn’t tell the difference between a buzzsaw, a circular saw, a precision saw and a Big Mac. With that in mind, Steve Ramsey’s channel butterfly nets certain lofty woodworking concepts and brings them down to Earth. This is the perfect desk for a small room and, above all, for someone who simply wants a wooden piece but is afraid they might lose a digit or two the minute the buzzsaw comes on.

Materials

Tips/Instructions

Once more I’m going to say it: “precut is your best friend”.

Download the free plans at http://woodworking.formeremortals.net/2014/04/writing-desk/

2. The Multi-Wooded Adventure

This writing desk was no doubt inspired by a quaint hike through the forest. If the artist so much as snatched a view of a tree, he instantly archived that majesty into the bookshelves in his brain. Once on the drawing board, egged on by a need to create, he simply picked different woods and slapped them all together.

Materials

Slaps and boards of wood (pine, mdf and plywood).

Iron numb for the drawer.

The usual woodworking tools.

Fevicol Glue.

A tapping mallet.

Clamps

Sliders

Wood stain.

Paints

Tips/Instructions

3. 82 Bucks Custom Desk

This barn red wood desk, with cable management slot plus a nifty tray for clamping a monitor mount, will only spank your bank account for a measly 82 bucks… It will, nonetheless, tax your sanity to the limit. Why? Because, unlike other setups, this beauty requires you to don your carpenter cap and break out the circular saw.

Materials

Tools: all of them.

Paint or stain.

Box of 3 inch screws.

Clamps

2x4x8 wood: 4.

2x3x8 wood: 3.

1x8x6 wood: 4.

1x3x8 wood: 2.

Tips/Instructions

Be creative with your paints. You don’t have to follow the step by step to the letter.

Wait for paint to dry.

Space Savers

Desks, in general, are huge pieces of furniture. Some not only gigantic but extremely heavy. Once they are in space nothing short of an earthquake will rattle them out. With that in mind and the clear fact that not all of us live in palatial mansions, sometimes it is imperative to cheat. To worm your way, and do some fancy footwork, to be creative, to be imaginative, to be BOLD, in order to still have a desk while managing to conserve enough space in your condo to run around in.

1. Standing Up

The cool thing about this desk is that it can be used not only for writing but as a snazzy little bar. It serves two purposes and, in doing so, saves space.

Materials

12 inch long 2x12s.

Mending plates.

1 1/4” box of screws.

Black Iron plumbers’ pipes.

Tips/Instructions

The height of the desk can be adjusted by switching out sections of the pipe.

Sand and treat. Don’t PAINT; it clashes with the grunge/industrial vibe of the iron pipes.

2. Floating Desk With Secret Compartment

The cool thing about this beauty, aside from its size, is the fact that it has a secret compartment underneath for all your little treasures.

Materials

Choose any wood or even MDF

LED.

hinges.

roller catch.

Corner L bracket.

Wood filler.

Stain.

White Latex paint high Gloss

Get every tool. For that matter go to Home Depot and ransack the aisles.

Tips/Instructions

Take your time. In order for this piece to come out looking so cool, you have to take your time. This is not a one-day affair, this is at best a weekend adventure.

Play with the latex paint. If you don’t like white then, by all means, buy some other cooler.

3. The Swiss Army Knife Desk

This flip desk, although relatively huge, has an inner quality that makes it a space saver. What is that magical element? The fact that, like a Swiss Knife, its sections unfold like a Transformer and gifts your house with added space.

Materials

Plywood

Sander

Circular Saw.

Drill

Flip Desk Leg Kit.

Tips/Instructions

If you are going to treat, to give it that Satin look, then be wary. Be very, very, very afraid. Sometimes the compounded paint will make parts of the desk stick together; hence slapping away that IT that makes this such a cool model.

Treat with Danish oil not only smooth it out but to give it a slicker look.

4. Fold Down Desk

Is space a problem, then pat yourself on the back cause you’ve come to the right article. Not only that but from this huge list you’ve managed to pick the best item for your needs. Hurray! Half the work is done. Now, let’s get cracking.

Materials

Tools (the usual suspects).

3 pine boards 80×30 cm.

Box of screws.

Hinges

Tips/Instructions

Take the back part off and screw in a cool metal monitor mount to the wall.

Treat with different chemicals, to give it that shiny satin finish.

Sand to perfection.

The Hacker’s Station

Let’s all be honest with one another. Time to tear down the wall and face an uncomfortable tabu… our calligraphy is ghastly! The last time most of us actually held a pencil was in grade-school. For that matter, I think pencils have somehow become rare almost extinct objects of devotion. When was the last time you actually saw one? They were outsourced to China and no doubt recalled because of a lead scare. As such, the only reason we need a writing desk is so our computer has a throne for her GB body.

1. Holy Batman

Materials

2xP5

Glass

Mounting

Standard tools like a jigsaw, drill, ironsaw, file and sandpaper.

Tips/Instructions

Patience

A working knowledge of Quantum Mechanics.

An engineering degree.

A midnight pact at your nearest crossroad for some space-age wisdom.

Forget, unless you really know about computers, the liquid cool deconstructed PC, and stick with the mounting and glass.

2. The LED Wonder

There is nothing more on Earth that screams technology like LED strips. Slap some onto anything and you somehow feel as if you’ve traveled through a time wormhole and landed in the year 2130.

Materials

Minwax Gel Stain ” Hickory”.

LED Strip

LIBERTY Soft-Close Drawer Slide

handle

Edge band

Oak (stained) and Pine (painted)

Top 88 ¼in L x 22 ½in D with trim

Book shelf 7 ½in W x 11 ¼in D x34 ½in H

Cabinet 17 ¾in W x 21D x 31 1/4in H

Top Drawers: 15 3/8in W x 16D x 4in H

Middle: 15 3/8inW x 16inD x 7inH

Bottom: 15 3/8inW x 16inD x 11inH

Angle Finder (Digital Protractor)

Circular Saw with Dust Collection

Pocket hole jig

Table Saw

Trim Router

Tips/Instructions

Get help. If you don’t know squat about working with electricity and wood, then go make friends with your old bully from High School; that fella’ sure knew how to play with a hammer.